The court-appointed receiver for what Florida's attorney general claims is a $50 million debt relief scam has taken over the companies involved and is digging into the alleged fraud.

Jonathan Perlman of Genovese Joblove & Battista in Miami was appointed to recover funds for about 15,000 consumers who were allegedly stiffed by a Pompano Beach scam. According to the Federal Trade Commission and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, 11 companies falsely promised to consolidate consumers' debt and improve their credit for monthly fees between $200 to $1,000.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga last week issued a preliminary injunction against the operation and its leaders, Jeremy Lee Marcus, Craig Davis Smith and Yisbet Segrea. Law enforcement shut down the companies' 50,000-square-foot Pompano Beach office complex and Perlman interviewed employees to begin putting together a picture of what happened.

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